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Mythic structures and religious motives in the universe of StarCraft computer game series.
Michalič, Robert ; Kostičová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Petříček, Miroslav (referee)
The goal of this work is to provide the reader with an interpretation of races, factions and storyline of the Starcraft game series universe from the perspective of religious studies and to set its results into context of modern spiritual beliefs collectively called New Age. First part of the work analyzes narrative elements which are found in races and factions of Starcraft univerze and reaches the conclusion that through them the game operates with religiously relevant classification categories of purity and dirtiness, order and chaos. The second part utilizes these results in an analysis of narrative structures understood as relations and interactions between particular races and factions, and shows that categories of order and chaos/purity and dirtiness are functionally analogous to Victor Turner's categories of structure and anti-structure. Conclusion of this analysis claims that Starcraft thematizes the problem of one's oppozite's prevalence over the other. The third part summarizes conclusions of both previous parts, gives examples of order/chaos relations in historical religions and shows how narrative structures present these beliefs as problematic. Subsequently this work points out the identical beliefs celebrating the balance between opposites found in New Age, tries to explain the...
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Polarities in the Works of Oscar Wilde
Burianová, Petra ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
Reading through the works of Oscar Wilde, one soon notices the many instances of polarity: the recurring themes of the body versus soul, good versus evil, city versus nature, artificial versus natural and many more. It is to be found in his plays as well as in his prose and fairy- tales. Yet these polarities do not necessarily have to oppose each other: the Wildean dialectic allows contraries to coexist, and thus we have the Star-Child who, through repentance, turns from evil to good; however this turn of character does not ensure a happy-ending, and makes us question whether "good really is good". A great number of Wilde's characters either live a double-life, have two distinct sides to their personality, or even several personalities, and in the case of Dorian Gray the split is literal. What led the author to constantly toy with this motif is a question worth examining. In Wilde's case, the artist's life cannot be entirely separated from his works since so much of what he was and what formed him is reflected in the texts he wrote. His statement that "what people call insincerity is simply a method by which we can multiply our personalities" (Ransome, 162) shows that for Wilde, truth was not the opposite of "lie", but there may have been several different versions of truth. His aesthetic views,...
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Mythic structures and religious motives in the universe of StarCraft computer game series.
Michalič, Robert ; Kostičová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Petříček, Miroslav (referee)
The goal of this work is to provide the reader with an interpretation of races, factions and storyline of the Starcraft game series universe from the perspective of religious studies and to set its results into context of modern spiritual beliefs collectively called New Age. First part of the work analyzes narrative elements which are found in races and factions of Starcraft univerze and reaches the conclusion that through them the game operates with religiously relevant classification categories of purity and dirtiness, order and chaos. The second part utilizes these results in an analysis of narrative structures understood as relations and interactions between particular races and factions, and shows that categories of order and chaos/purity and dirtiness are functionally analogous to Victor Turner's categories of structure and anti-structure. Conclusion of this analysis claims that Starcraft thematizes the problem of one's oppozite's prevalence over the other. The third part summarizes conclusions of both previous parts, gives examples of order/chaos relations in historical religions and shows how narrative structures present these beliefs as problematic. Subsequently this work points out the identical beliefs celebrating the balance between opposites found in New Age, tries to explain the...
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Polarities in the Works of Oscar Wilde
Burianová, Petra ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
Reading through the works of Oscar Wilde, one soon notices the many instances of polarity: the recurring themes of the body versus soul, good versus evil, city versus nature, artificial versus natural and many more. It is to be found in his plays as well as in his prose and fairy- tales. Yet these polarities do not necessarily have to oppose each other: the Wildean dialectic allows contraries to coexist, and thus we have the Star-Child who, through repentance, turns from evil to good; however this turn of character does not ensure a happy-ending, and makes us question whether "good really is good". A great number of Wilde's characters either live a double-life, have two distinct sides to their personality, or even several personalities, and in the case of Dorian Gray the split is literal. What led the author to constantly toy with this motif is a question worth examining. In Wilde's case, the artist's life cannot be entirely separated from his works since so much of what he was and what formed him is reflected in the texts he wrote. His statement that "what people call insincerity is simply a method by which we can multiply our personalities" (Ransome, 162) shows that for Wilde, truth was not the opposite of "lie", but there may have been several different versions of truth. His aesthetic views,...
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Daimón: The Unity and the Contradiction of the Lope de Aguirre's World
Janoušková, Petra ; Housková, Anna (advisor) ; Sánchez Fernández, Juan Antonio (referee)
The present work is focused on interpretation of the novel Daimón, written by Argentinian writer Abel Posse. It indicates the context of the "Latin America's new historical novel", comments the historical background of the story, touches the concept of time in the novel. Then the work analyses in detail the composition of the novel which is structured as a Tarot cards reading, explains the importance of the Tarot not only for interpretation of the Daimón novel, but also for understanding the World in general. Key words: Tarot, Lope de Aguirre, Abel Posse, new historical Latin America's new historical novel, dialogism, parody, heteroglossia, spiritual path, Toltec, Toltec shamanism, Carlos Castaneda, concept of cyclical time, contradictions, realization.
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